Fran Drescher Is Dating The Guy Who Kinda Sorta But Not Really Invented Email

Fran Drescher has a new man. The fifty-six-year-old actress, whose ex-husband came out of the closet after twenty-one years of marriage back in 1999, recently started a relationship with a forty-nine-year-old. He’s a lecturer at MIT and depending on who you believe, is either an incredibly important computer pioneer or a self-publicizing jackass.

The man in question is Shiva Ayyadurai, and he’s long been credited by many (including himself) as the inventor of email. He routinely agrees to interviews to talk about his accomplishment and even has some of his work in the Smithsonian. If you listen to the technological community, however, Ayyadurai actually invented the name email as a 14-year-old whiz back in 1978 when he built a simple communication device for a dental practice and didn’t actually invent the way computers send messages to one another.

Regardless of what he actually accomplished, the two have apparently been getting hot and heavy. According to US Weekly, they attended the premiere of Bridegroom earlier this week in Beverly Hills and were apparently very affectionate during the runtime. She’s been very open in the past about her desire to date younger men, though given her age, there’s not a whole lot weird about being with someone seven years her junior.

Thus far, Drescher has lived a pretty crazy life. In addition to her huge fame as a sitcom star (most notably in The Nanny), she’s started skin care lines, allegedly encountered aliens and delivered her uncensored opinions to the world. Hopefully, this relationship with Ayyadurai will progress and she will be able to get a long-term happy ending. If not, hopefully, she’ll at least get some great dates and some adventure out of it.